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U.S. Helsinki Commission podcast guest: Russia’s "shadow war" now targets undersea cables and energy infrastructure
Summary
Benjamin Schmidt, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, told the U.S. Helsinki Commission podcast that Russia’s campaign against Western infrastructure has escalated from covert influence to physical sabotage — including space tests and subsea cable attacks — and urged NATO and U.S. policymakers to raise political pressure.
Benjamin Schmidt, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, told the U.S. Helsinki Commission’s The Transatlantic podcast that Russia is conducting a "shadow war" against the West that increasingly targets critical infrastructure, including satellites and subsea cables, and requires a stronger political and security response.
Schmidt, who researches energy and national security and leads field investigations into subsea incidents, said the pattern of attacks has moved beyond cyber and influence operations into physical sabotage. "There is no doubt in my mind that this is war by any other name," he said, arguing that calling the phenomenon a form of war makes clear the need for a robust policy and security response.
Why it matters: subsea cables carry the vast majority of global trunk-line data and many countries’ energy and communications networks are linked by…
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